Cyclone Vardah barrels toward Chennai, flights hits amid heavy rain
December 12, 2016 11:45 am
Cyclone Vardah is expected to make landfall this afternoon in Tamil Nadu and several flights arriving at Chennai and flying out of the city have been cancelled or delayed this morning amid heavy rain and strong winds along the state’s coast.
Both Tamil Nadu and neighbour Andhra Pradesh are on high alert and teams from the Navy and the National Disaster Response Force are on standby. Cyclone Vardah is likely to hit land near Pulicat, around 60 km from Chennai, with wind speeds of around 80 to 100 km an hour. The storm, which was earlier expected to weaken, may not lose intensity after all, the Met office has said.
Some Chennai bound passenger flights were also diverted to Colombo today due to the storm in the Tamil Nadu area. Some 15 flights were cancelled, 25 flights were diverted; 9 incoming flights delayed at the Chennai airport. A Srilankan Airlines flight on its way to Chenai also returned to Katunayake.
Indian National Disaster Management Authority, in a tweet, advised people “to remain in safe places and cooperate with state government officials and disaster management agencies”. Senior officials have been sent to the districts that are likely to be on the path of the cyclone.
-NDTV
-Agencies
